Chris Pine to Cameo in Joe Carnahan’s ‘Stretch’ with Patrick Wilson

Writer/director Joe Carnahan has been floating from script to script recently, trying to settle on the next project to go in front of the camera. He co-wrote an adaptation of Brian Garfield’s vigilante novel Death Wish, but abandoned the director’s chair after disagreements with Paramount executives. He made an unsuccessful pitch to direct the Daredevil reboot before the rights reverted back to Marvel, and also penned the script for a true-life action thriller Killing Pablo, which has been in development for years.

With his schedule left largely clear by the struggles of numerous scripts in development hell, Carnahan has decided to go back to basics with a low-budget indie comedy thriller called Stretch, about a limousine driver who reluctantly becomes drawn into the crazy dealings of a mysterious billionaire who climbs into his back seat.

Patrick Wilson (Watchmen) has been attached to the project from early on in its development, but The Wrap has revealed that Chris Pine, who plays Captain James T. Kirk in the rebooted Star Trek films, has agreed to a cameo role. Since Wilson will be playing a chauffeur of the rich and famous in the film, it’s possible that Pine might even play a version of himself, though details of what his cameo will entail are being kept secret for now.

As the star of one of this year’s most highly-anticipated blockbusters, Pine’s name is probably a lot bigger than Carnahan could afford for a headline role in such a low-budget production. However, the director gave Pine one of his first big roles outside of bad romantic comedies as one of the psychotic neo-Nazi Tremor brothers in Smokin’ Aces. So it’s likely that Pine’s willingness to lend his famous face to Stretch is due to some warm feelings toward Caranahan left over from their first team-up.

After directing big-budget action fare like The A-Team, Stretch will mark a return to indie roots for Carnahan, who started out his career with thrillers like Narc and Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane. As mentioned in his tweet, Stretch will be produced by Blumhouse Pictures and was being sold at the American Film Market last year, where it presumably pulled together its budget.

In this writer’s opinion, Wilson’s name in the lead is a far more promising prospect for Stretch than Pine’s cameo, but if Pine can get a few more audiences in the seats for Carnahan’s next project, then this cameo role is definitely good news.

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Stretch doesn’t have a release date yet, but Star Trek Into Darkness hits U.S. theaters on Wednesday May 16th, 2013. Keep an eye out for the impending Screen Rant review.